U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 12, 1997

Hal Sutton

LES UNGER: Well, a no-bogey round, I guess, something that everybody would aspire to. I'm not sure how many will make it, but I assume you're feeling pretty good about it right now.

HAL SUTTON: Yeah, I felt real good about my game today. I drove it in the fairway most of the day; hit an awful lot of greens and made a putt or two and showed a lot of patience on this golf course. I think that's something that whoever the champion is at the end of the week, over the course of 72 holes, will show a lot of patience.

LES UNGER: Would you mind going through your card? There were no bogeys, but on your birdies and any par saves.

HAL SUTTON: Okay. I mean, you want each hole? No. 1, hit a 3-wood off the tee, hit an 8-iron on the green about 25 feet, 2-putted. No. 2, I hit a 4-wood in there about 25 feet below the hole, 2-putted. 3, driver off the tee, 5-iron in the left center of the green about 25 feet and 2-putted. 4, I hit 3-wood, hit a 7-iron about 20 feet, 2-putted. 5 was the only fairway I missed. I drove it through the fairway there, caught a pretty good lie in the rough, hit an 8-iron just over the back edge of the green about 2 feet and 2-putted from there. It was probably about 30 or 35 feet, just made about a 2-footer for the par. 6, real good driver, had 200 to the hole, hit 5-iron in there about 15 feet left of the hole, lipped it out. 7, I hit a little 6-iron about 12 feet above the hole, thought I'd made the putt. Hit a really good putt, goes by about 7 feet, made it coming back. So, that was a good save. 8, hit 2-iron off the tee. Hit a 9-iron in. Actually, lipped it out. It landed about 6 feet behind the hole and lipped out. Made about an 18-inch putt. Then 9, I hit a 3-wood, 3-iron, pitching wedge about 10 feet and made that. 10, I hit driver 5-iron about 15 feet and 2-putted. 11, I hit 2-iron, 8-iron, 20 feet, 2-putted. 12, I hit a 5-iron about 20 feet and 2-putted. 13, I hit a 6-iron about 35 or 40 feet behind the hole, hit a good first putt, missed it about an inch or two on the right, still went by 7 or 8 feet, made that coming back for par. So, that was a good save. 14, hit a real big drive there and hit a 7-iron over the green about 2 feet into the deep rough; made a real good chip there about 2 feet and saved par there. 15, 3-wood, 5-iron, pitching wedge about 15 feet behind the hole, 2-putted. 16, 3-wood, 180 5-iron about 8 feet below the hole and made that for birdie. 17, I drove it 166 yards, hit 8-iron about 5 feet, made that. Then 18, I hit a 5-iron about 25 feet behind the hole and 2-putted.

LES UNGER: Last week, you only played two rounds. Is this a surprise to you?

HAL SUTTON: No, I played really well last week. I just never made a putt on Kempers -- on Avenel's good greens over there. Actually, I thought that was a blessing in disguise. I got some rest. I didn't have to putt those greens on the weekend.

LES UNGER: Questions.

Q. Is there any truth to the statement made by some players that you can't find your game at the Open?

HAL SUTTON: You can't find your game? I don't think -- I mean, I don't think you can. You have to come here feeling pretty good about your game.

Q. Hal, are you continuing your conversations with Jack Burke and, if so, what's he telling you?

HAL SUTTON: I have not talked to him since I went down there during The Masters. But, what he had to say was pretty powerful messages, and it's been hanging with me.

Q. Hal, it sort of answers this question. What has been the difference from your season up to New Orleans -- at New Orleans to now?

HAL SUTTON: Well, I think what was happening -- what's happened since then was actually happening before, and I just didn't -- kind of hadn't put it together mentally. I started working with my old college coach last July, and we had a lot of swing changes that we had to make. And, you know, when you start doing that sort of thing, you regress a little bit in the beginning. And, then you start to pick up the pace, and I could see that I was really hitting the ball well at the beginning of the year and not getting anything done. And Floyd and I kind of talked about it and I said, you know, I think I want to go get overhauled with Jackie Burke mentally. And, so, that's what I did. And, I don't know if Elky has ever told you all about it, but Jackie Burke will work you over pretty good.

Q. Hal, if I may, of course there's 54 more holes of golf to play. But, right now, you've got to be very, very pleased with your situation, and if memory serves me correctly, when you're out in front, you play better?

HAL SUTTON: Well, I don't know if that's the case or not, but I'm pleased with where I'm at. It is just 18 holes so far, and this golf course is not going to get any easier. It's probably going to get harder. And, I like the way I'm swinging at it. I don't feel like I need to go to the practice tee and work on anything. I'll just try to get ready for that 1:50 tee time tomorrow.

Q. Hal, you said that Burke's message to you was very powerful. Share, if you would, a little bit of what he told you and how long it took for you to assimilate what he said.

HAL SUTTON: Well, you know, Jackie Burke is from the old school, and he believes in, you know, playing because of the challenge of the game and playing because you love the game. And, you know, in today's world, it's very easy to get caught up in trying to make X number of dollars. And, when you're looking at contracts, you know, you're looking at sometimes the most money instead of the best product or whatever. And, Jackie Burke just asked me one real simple question: He said, "Do you play golf because you love the game or do you play golf because you're making money?" And, I thought it was a trick question to begin with, you know. I thought-- you know, I thought we were friends. Are you really -- I thought I was going to learn something down here. He said, "It's not a trick, I'm asking you a question." And, I got to thinking about it and, you know, when I was an amateur, you know, I wasn't playing for money. I was just playing for trophies. You know, I played because I loved the game. And, then when I came out here, I wasn't playing because of money, because I didn't have any money, I didn't have any debt, I didn't have anything, you know. But as you begin to make more money and you begin to -- people put responsibilities on you and you have a place in golfing life that you feel like you should be and other people feel like you should be, I think it changes your perspective on how you play the game. You know, I still wasn't getting it to begin with. And, Jackie said: "Well, let me ask you a question. When you get to the last hole and you can't win and there's par 5 over water, you know, are you thinking about laying up so you can save as many dollars as you can or are you thinking about going for the green because you just love the challenge?" And, when it came right down to it, I'm laying it up 90 percent of the time. I got tested real quick on 18 at Atlanta. You know, I got there, I couldn't win the golf tournament. And I drove it right where I needed to go for the green, right across the water. I thought, well, here we go, I'm playing because I love the game. Let's go. I did knock it across, too.

Q. Hal, how do you think the scores that you and Colin have put on the board early today are affecting people out there today after you?

HAL SUTTON: I don't know. I don't think that any score that goes up should affect how you play your game, especially in the U.S. Open. I don't think you can turn up the volume in your game, so to speak, especially on a golf course like this. I think you have to have a strategy, and I think you have to stick to that strategy, regardless of what somebody else is shooting ahead of you or whatever.

Q. It sounds like you hit a lot of 3-woods. How many drivers did you hit today?

HAL SUTTON: Let's see, I drove it at 3 -- let me think about this -- I drove it at 3, 5, 6, 10, 13, 14, 17. That's the drivers I hit.

Q. Hal, you talk about getting back some old confidence, old thoughts. Has it been hard at times to reconcile the record that you have compiled versus the vast potential that you came out on Tour with?

HAL SUTTON: You know, for a long time, I worried about what other people thought my potential was, you know, versus what I was producing, and that really bothered me a lot. And, I think that there's a lot of guys that have come along since then that have had a lot of pressure put on them because of how everybody else saw their potential. And, you know, I think coming to grips with the fact that, you know what, you're going to come out here -- everybody gets out here with potential. They wouldn't get out here if they didn't have potential on the Tour. And, how you develop your potential as you go along is important if you can just keep getting a little bit better. But, it's really hard when people are telling you how good they think you should be all the time. It's really hard to live up to everybody else's expectations.

Q. How would you assess your Open performance over the years, and have Open courses been suited to your game?

HAL SUTTON: Yeah, I think Open courses are suited to my game. And, I've had two or three chances to win. I played really good in '83 at Oakmont. I think I finished about fifth and had the lead for awhile. And, then, at Shinnecock in '86, I had an opportunity to win there, too, but didn't - finished about 4th there, I think. I've had some success in the U.S. Open, not as much as I'd like to.

Q. Hal, how many makeovers is this for you now?

HAL SUTTON: Makeovers?

Q. Your game.

HAL SUTTON: Makeovers - that's a good question. I don't know. I think that's constant in life. I think that, you know, this game, it always seems like you're going uphill; then you're coming back downhill. You're always fixing something. It's really funny you asked that. I don't feel like I've been fixing anything for the last two months. I feel like every day I walk out here, I'm working on the same thing. And, I've had the same playing thought for the last two months. I can't remember a time in my life when I had the same playing thought for two months. So, I've been through a lot of makeovers. I can't answer that question.

Q. Hal, you said you hit 13 out of 14 fairways. Did you find you were having to work the ball or were you primarily playing one shot, a cut or straight?

HAL SUTTON: No. I don't think I was trying to do either - I was looking down the middle of the fairway and accepting what I could get. I hit a few cuts and few draws, both. 17, I got out there and had to draw it on 17. I hit a perfect draw out there, so I don't think you can play one side of the fairway on this golf course. I really don't. I think you have to be able to do both things. There's enough room in the fairways that you can aim it right down the middle and have a little leeway.

Q. I was just wondering if you could give us the name of your college coach you've been working with?

HAL SUTTON: Floyd Horgen, H-O-R-G-E-N.

Q. G-E-N?

HAL SUTTON: G-E-N.

LES UNGER: Hal, were conditions today as good as they could be for scoring?

HAL SUTTON: Yeah, I think so. You know, one thing that I did want to say. I've got to hand it to the USGA. They have done a spectacular job of just turning up the level of this golf course each day a little bit, instead of throwing you one thing for three days and then throwing you a complete curve on Thursday. You know, the golf course, the greens were a little bit faster today than they were yesterday. Some of the greens were a little bit firmer today than they were yesterday, but nothing drastically different. And the USGA has done a nice job of continuing to bring this golf course to a lever or a peak.

Q. Did you enjoy success here playing here when the Kemper Open was here, and if so, did that help you in any way coming into this week?

HAL SUTTON: The biggest thing I remember about the Kemper Open here and what I did was is the five-way playoff year, the year that Fred Couples won, I missed it by a 1-footer that I back-handed on 12 to miss that playoff. I would have never done that. I learned a valuable lesson not to back-hand a putt anymore, but everybody backed up that year if you remember, and I didn't think that at the time it meant anything, but it cost me a playoff. That's the most vivid memory I have of Congressional.

Q. Hal, some of us -- a few of us have been married as many times as you have, talking about makeovers and do-overs. Does your personal life relate to the way you're playing now, is all that coming together for you?

HAL SUTTON: Obviously you haven't been as married as many times as I have or you wouldn't ask a question like that, so I don't know who you're talking about, but I've got a great wife. I've got a wonderful little daughter. I am as happy as I know how to be. I love both of them very, very much, and I will all my life, and I hope that was as plain as I could put that.

LES UNGER: Hal, thank you very much and continued good luck.

HAL SUTTON: Thank you.

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